The University of Cincinnati is turning to artificial intelligence to help solve problems in medical training. As Spectrum News recently reported, a medical school has been awarded a grant worth more than $1 million to use AI for advanced physician training through personalized learning.
Medical schools are faced with a lack of quality feedback for residents as they work in clinical settings. So the university sought a grant that would allow students to use systems and devices such as AI glasses and smartphones in training environments to capture interactions.
“I’ve always been interested in how AI and medicine can be used together,” said Ivy Xue, a student at the University of California School of Medicine. “I have been involved in several projects during my undergraduate years and even shortly before entering university, so I am really looking forward to seeing projects like this come to fruition as I progress through my medical education.”
Xue is excited about the new AI glasses and believes they will help her improve her patient care skills.
“We now have standardized patient encounters in the hospital room, but it’s very similar to working with a few other medical students, and it’s more of a team-based setting,” Xue said. “Also, as you know, there’s a limit to the amount of feedback we can get. I think being able to get more reps and get more personalized feedback in real time would be a huge improvement.”
The university says the data collected from these devices will help trainees hone how they connect with patients and think about complex diagnoses.
“We introduced technology several years ago that simulates patient contact through a web environment, so we are working to implement it throughout the four-year medical education curriculum and bring it into training,” said Laura Turner, associate dean of artificial intelligence and educational informatics. “And the great thing about this is that students can do repetition.”
Turner said the grant was difficult to obtain. The American Medical Association selected 11 team candidates from nearly 200 applicants.
“The more you do it, the more the system learns about it,” Turner said. “For example, if a learner always forgets to record their social history or doesn’t have very good relationships, the system will learn that and adapt to provide more cases and scenarios like this.”
Xue believes this is the future of the medical field and is excited to see what new AI tools will bring.
“This feels like the future we’ve seen on TV. It’s definitely going to be a surreal experience, but I’m looking forward to it,” Xue said.
Read the full Spectrum News report.
